Deal
by Insert Witty Name Here
Summary: House and Cuddy make a deal, but they have a few bumps in the road before they manage to make it official. Huddy, OC
1. Chapter 1

**Deal**

Cameron dragged Chase through the busy airport. Her sister was visiting and he was none too happy about it.

"Stop whining, she's only here for the weekend."

Chase made a face at her and she cracked a smile. They were going to tell her sister about their engagement this weekend. She was nervous about her reaction. So nervous they had arrived at the terminal half an hour early. There were people coming out of the gate when they got there.

"It said 3:45, didn't it? Is it early?" Chase scanned the monitor above them.

"Nah, it's a different flight, must've been delayed."

They parked themselves in the corner, out of the way from all the travelers and people waiting for friends and relatives. Just about all the people had come off the plane. Cameron watched grandparents great their children and grandchildren and a woman embrace a man that looked to be her husband. She watched a teenage girl looking for whoever was supposed to pick her up. She looked almost sullen for a moment before her face lit up. Cameron liked people watching.

"Dad!" Cameron smiled a little, she hoped their children would always be that happen to see them. She followed the girl's gaze and her heart stopped. Surely that could not be her father.

And then, as if the universe heard her thoughts, House's face lit up, a perfect mirror to the girls. Cameron glanced over at Chase, he was watching a football game on his new phone with his headphones on.

The girl ran up and wrapped her arms around House's midsection and he gave her a kiss on top of her head. Completely oblivious to the woman watching them, House and the girl went about their business.

"Did you have a good flight?" House asked. The girl nodded.

"Gran is gonna ship all my furniture and stuff tomorrow."

"You're keeping the old lady furniture?" House quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Of course not, but if I leave everything there she'll use every trick she can to get me back there." The girl rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. Cameron still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was this really his daughter? She tried to imagine House at her age and saw the resemblance between them. All except for his blue eyes. She must have gotten her eyes from her mother. That train of thought sparked a fury of other questions, some that she would never dare ask him. Her thoughts were brutally interrupted when she noticed House was staring at her. A mix of emotions crossed his face; confusion, worry, but most of all, anger. She knew exactly what he was stressing over. She put her thumb and index finger together and slid them across her lips, letting him know it their little secret. He nodded almost imperceptibly and pulled his daughter along to the luggage area.

_

House was just about to experience a heart attack first hand before Cameron promised silently to keep his secret. He could just see the staff at the hospital going nuts over this tidbit of information. He had spent so many years fighting for custody of his daughter, he would not let the rumor mill ruin his good mood. He made a mental note to do something against the grain of his personality and send Cameron some flowers or chocolates or something else to bribe her. He knew she was too much of a goody-two-shoes to hold it against him as some sort of blackmail. Still, couldn't hurt to butter her up a little.

"Can we order take-out when we get home?" Sadie asked. They were speeding along the highway, free as a bird.

"Sure thing, kiddo." He reached over and ruffled her hair, knowing full well it bugged the crap out of her when he did that.

"Daaa-aad!" She whined, but with a smile on her face. He knew by the look on her face that she was still giddy with excitement at moving in with him. He decided to get down to business before they arrived and got settled in.

"You're not expected at school until Monday, think you can handle staying home alone tomorrow? I'd play hooky, but we've got a patient."

"I'm 15, I think I'll survive." She didn't look up from the game she was playing on her phone.

"Don't answer the door, unless it's me…or the cops." He paused, as if thinking for a moment, "Then again, just me."

"Got it. Stranger-Danger."

"And no wild parties." He said sternly.

"Keeping everything on the down-low, very respectable." Sadie had clearly inherited his dry wit.

___

The next morning, House got to work at his usual time- an hour and a half late. He noticed that their patient was gone. The team had done tests overnight and found out the patient had a tumor hidden in their pancreas, causing all the unusual symptoms. He also noticed that everyone in the diagnostics department was either in the clinic, or had gone home for the day for a long weekend. He sat in his office and twirled his cane, wishing he had called in sick. Then again, he would rather just not show up and not have to get the third degree from Cuddy. He was just about to sneak out and head back home when Cameron walked in his office.

He sighed dramatically and let his cane fall on the desk loudly.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, but-" She started.

"Here we go." House muttered. He propped his feet up on the desk and leaned his chair back. Cameron rolled her eyes and sat in empty chair opposite of him.

"I just want to know more. Does anyone else know? Does Stacy know?

"Yes and no."

"Does she live with you?" Cameron asked.

"She does now." House answered succinctly. Cameron stared at him, knowing full well he would make this as difficult as possible. House dug his fingers in his eyes and gave in, knowing she wouldn't let up until she knew the whole story.

"Her mother," House began, "died ten years ago when Sadie was five." Cameron nodded, not showing any of the emotional reactions she was experiencing. She knew all too well about losing a mother at such a young age.

"She had a will and it stated that should anything happen to her, I would gain full custody. However, "Cameron sensed a giant shift in his mood. House's jaw was clenched tight and he was looking her straight in the eye, something he did when he wanted to someone to know that he was not to be messed with, "Sadie's grandmother had it in her head that she would take custody of her. There was a big legal battle and she won. She used my medical problems against me" He tapped his bad leg. "Old woman had a mild stroke last year and found out you get what you give."

Cameron nodded, not quite sure what the proper reaction to that story was.

"Ok. You got the story. Now shoo!" House waved his hands.

Cameron rolled her eyes and left. House was glad to have that over and done with. Crisis averted. Now if he could just sneak out without Cuddy seeing him. He gathered his things and made it to the elevator, but luck was just not on his side it seemed. The elevator doors opened and Cuddy stood waiting inside. He walked in, politely ignoring her.

"What's this weeks reason for skipping out on clinic duty?" Cuddy asked. She wasn't in the mood to fight him on it this particular day.

House paused a moment and then quietly answered.

"I got custody of Sadie. She just got here last night." He didn't look at her, knowing she would get all emotional and girly about it. She was quiet for a few seconds.

"You know this means I have to come see her." Cuddy gave him a piercing stare and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please. You'll spoil her rotten, you do it every time." he said. Cuddy and Wilson (and now Cameron) were the only people at the hospital that knew about Sadie. It secretly pleased him that his daughter got along with them. More so Cuddy than Wilson. He figured Wilson was just too boring to keep Sadie's attention. However, every time she visited, Cuddy would come by and the two would gossip and giggle like school girls. Wilson had a hard time making small talk with a 15 year old girl and really, who could blame him?

"I bet she's grown a foot since last summer." Cuddy smiled, knowing House couldn't resist giving her an update. Sadie had come to visit for a month every summer and House had always made it a point to let Cuddy know. Stacy tolerated Sadie, not really taking to her. It always bothered him that she acted that way.

"Two, at least. We're gonna pig out on left-over take out tonight, wanna join us?" House asked. He and Cuddy had been going in circles around each other the last few months. He wished he had handled himself a little more smoothly around her. He had been too worried over the legal battle with the old tramp though. He had his daughter back though, and he felt a surge of confidence. He could see the surprise on Cuddy's face, but she quickly hid it and smiled warmly.

"Only if I can bring the baby." She said. House groaned out loud.

"Not another one!"

"She was on the phone with her boyfriend the whole time! Even you would have flipped if you saw last month's bill." Cuddy was practically fuming when the elevator doors opened, which was perfect. It would look like she was getting on to House for something. She followed him to the parking garage and he just then realized that she had her things with her as well.

"You devil, you're playing hooky?!" He could not believe his eyes, Lisa Cuddy was leaving work early. He wanted to take a picture and send it to Wilson, he wouldn't believe it when House told him.

"This is possibly the slowest day I've ever had, the weather is nice, it's Friday and who can resist re-heated Chinese food?" House smiled genuinely, something very few people got to see.

"An hour?" House asked. Cuddy nodded and made her way to her car.

__

Sadie was happy to see him when he got home.

"Lisa's coming over in a little while." House told her. Cuddy's first name felt foreign to his tongue. He was taking out all the containers while she sat on the counter and emptied them out onto some plates.

"Is she bringing the baby?" House nodded and cringed when she squealed with excitement. It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door. He didn't bother moving from his spot at the piano bench, knowing Sadie would get there before him. Sure enough, she flew out of her room, down the hall and was at the door. He moved over to the couch and hunkered down while they reunited with each other.

"Oh my god, you got so tall!" Cuddy admonished. She set the baby carrier down on the couch next to House. The girls began to chitter chatter and House quietly took Rachel out of the contraption. He wasn't too keen on her the past few months. It always painfully reminded House of Sadie when she was a baby. She only needed a little help sitting up now. It wouldn't be long and she would be crawling all over the place. He could just picture all the child proofed cabinets and electrical sockets in Cuddy's house. Rachel stared wide eyed around him at the new surrounding. She began rubbing his eyes and fussing so Cuddy set the carrier down on the floor and sat next to House while she fed Rachel a bottle. When she fell asleep they sat down at he table and chowed down.

"What school are you going to?" Cuddy asked Sadie.

"Jackson Memorial." She answered. It was a private school just across the street from the hospital. House was going to have some trouble if he was still planning on keeping Sadie a secret from the hospital staff, thought Cuddy. She wondered if any of them knew how close she and House really were. Of course, she got upset with him when he skipped clinic duty, or almost killed a patient. It never seemed to affect their personal relationship, save for the few last months. Things had been tense between, but she tried not to press too hard on him. He had finally told her why he was so stressed. He was making another attempt to get Sadie back. They had both agreed that Sadie's grandmother must have had some ties to the small town judge that had been overseeing the case earlier on. She knew he didn't want to jinx it by talking about it. She also knew that he had been completely clean of any drugs for the past three months. Even Wilson didn't know that. House had filled empty vicodin bottles with tic-tacs so that anyone else that knew him would think he was still popping pills.

It was late when Sadie said goodnight and went to her room. They heard her stereo playing quietly soon afterwards.

Rachel was sleeping soundly in the carrier. House and Cuddy sat down at the piano bench. He ran his fingers over the keys, but didn't play them.

"You can play. A hurricane wouldn't wake that child up." House chuckled, but still didn't play. He looked at Cuddy quite seriously for a moment before finally speaking.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Cuddy sighed and placed a hand on his jaw.

"You know you have nothing to apologize for." He leaned into her hand. They had always been friends, but they had never crossed that unspoken boundary until he kissed her. He had wanted to for a couple years now. Wanted more than just silly banter and the occasional drink together. Now he had no reason not to. He had gotten what he wanted and so had she. There was nothing pulling them apart. No exes. No unfulfilled dreams. Just the lack of courage to follow it through. He wasn't sure if she would reciprocate after all the drama that had gone down and she must have understood that. She leaned over and made the decision for him and it made him wonder why he had bothered to second guess himself the second their lips touched.

It didn't last long. Rachel had begun to squirm and fuss. She wasn't happy being confined to the baby carrier. Cuddy sighed and laid her head on his shoulder for a moment.

"I need to head home and get her to bed." She looked up at him. He gave her a small smile and kissed her chastely.

"You working tomorrow?" Cuddy shook her head.

"Hmmm, how odd is that? Neither am I…..I suppose if you were home, say, around noon. Certain people could come and visit. They could even eat together, it being lunchtime and all." Cuddy smiled.

"Yes, they could." She played along, "They could even stop by the supermarket and pick up some bread and eggs."

He rubbed his chin, as if thinking about it for a moment.

"They probably wouldn't mind doing that."

"Deal." She said. She gathered her things and picked up the carrier. When she was gone, House scribbled himself a note about bread and milk and left it in the kitchen so he wouldn't forget. He slept like a baby that night. There were very few things he was worried about at the moment. He had spent the last 10 years trying to drown his worries in alcohol and vicodin. He used to go to sleep every night wondering if his daughter was lonely or had anyone to talk to. Sadie's grandmother reminded him a bit of his father. Religious, strict, and not at all pleasant to be around. She never liked House from the start. Didn't think he was suited to be a father to any of her grandchildren. She wasn't happy about Abby's little "surprise." She and House never really dated. They just happened to get together one night. He and Stacy had broken up for a few months one fall. He thought it would be for good, but just a short time later they had patched things up. She wasn't mad when he told her about Abby. She had dated around a bit herself. However, she was enraged when she found out she would be having House's child. She calmed down over the months and he learned not to talk about any of it with her. It never stopped him from being a good dad. He spent his free time cooing over the little baby and when she was older she would spend a week or so at a time with him. He always had a valid sounding excuse for everyone at work. He still had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Abby was good to him, never threatening to take Sadie away from him. Abby was sick for about six months before she passed away. She had temporarily moved down to Florida to her mother's house. There was a specialist there who would give her the necessary treatments while her mother could watch over Sadie. House spent a year fighting for custody and then he had his own troubles. Abby's mother used his wavering health against him and the judge agreed. That was what had sent him over the edge. Stacey couldn't understand why he would risk death over a muscle in his leg. He would have rather died than live without his daughter anywhere near him. At that time, he wasn't legally allowed any visitations with her unless her grandmother approved of it. As she got older and learned of what had transpired between her father and grandmother, Sadie had begged the woman to let her live with her dad. She wasn't having any of it, but finally relented and let her visit House for month every summer, right around her birthday.

He let go of his worries. His daughter was sleeping in her room down the hall. With no one tell him he couldn't be a father to her. He fell asleep with thoughts of Saturday and the week ahead of them.

__

They had finished lunch and were hanging out at Cuddy's house for a couple hours. Sadie was playing with Rachel in the living room while House and Cuddy cleaned up. Rachel had been valiantly trying to crawl throughout the winter and had so far managed to get on all fours. Sadie was sitting a foot or so away, trying to get her to crawl towards her.

"I've got three more months." House stated out of the blue. Cuddy turned to him, giving him her full attention.

"Until what?" She asked.

"Until she gets her license." Cuddy nodded and smiled. She could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to figure out a way to keep Sadie from driving.

"She's pretty mature for her age. She'll be okay." Cuddy set the last dish in the drainer and leaned against the counter opposite him.

House sighed. "Yeah, yeah."

___

Things as work were business as usual. House still left an hour earlier than everyone else and they were none the wiser. He knew it wouldn't last much longer and it looked like today was just the day. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, there was a new text.

'I lost my house key!'

He sighed. When it rains it pours, the best thing he could think of was for her to walk the two blocks to the hospital and wait for him to get off work. They had a patient that was sporadically going into cardiac arrest and House was sure the answer was right in front of them. He knew Taub and Thirteen would ask questions, Foreman would wait and see what the others found at first. He had quickly and quietly told Wilson and Cuddy to act naturally, as if there was nothing out of the usual was happening. Which wouldn't be hard as they already knew Sadie.

He was just about to send off all the ducklings to do more lab tests when he saw her walk in his office. He waved off the three of them, but knew they would see her on their way out. He was going to have fun with this. Mind games were his strong point. This was going to throw them for a loop, especially when they tried to hit up Wilson and Cuddy for more information.

"Hey, kiddo." Sadie beamed and gave him a quick hug.

"I tried to find my keys everywhere, I think they're gone for good."

"We'll get new ones made tomorrow." He parked himself down at his desk, digging through the drawers for a minute and finally found what he was looking for. It was his PSP that he had been attached to for quite a while, but had grown bored with it lately. He brushed off the dust and tossed to her.

"Oooh." She dumped her bag and jacket on the floor and hunkered down on the big armchair across from him, laying her head on one arm and feet dangling over the other.

"Hey dad?" She asked without looking up.

"Yeah?"

"You know the people in the next room are staring a hole through the back of my head, right?"

"Right." he had noticed this a few moments ago.

"They have no idea who I am, do they?" He heard the game make a noise, she had just blown a zombie's head off.

"Nope."

She giggled a little. He turned to the window and let a small smile escape his lips. This was going to be good.

He knew that Thirteen had asked someone at the nurse's station because every few minutes a nurse would walk casually by, looking out of the corner of their eyes. He saw Cuddy coming and knew that the hospital staff would be flipping about this, assuming it had something to do with the strange girl in his office.

"I think that's a record." She walked in and stood behind the chair Sadie was sitting in.

"What's a record?" She asked, still killing off the undead.

"It took exactly 25 minutes from the time you walked in here until I got word about it in my office." House let out a bark of laughter.

"This isn't funny! All the nurses upstairs think she's our love-child or something." Sadie chose that moment to put on her ear buds and the sounds of killing and maiming disappeared. House frowned.

"If you would just play along, this could be a whole more fun." Cuddy stood there for a moment, weighing her options. He was right. She could give them something to talk about, or be inundated with nosey questions all day. She stood up straight and tapped Sadie's shoes.

"C'mon, kiddo, we're going to have a little fun." She put emphasis on that last word. House thought she might as well stick out her tongue. Sadie grinned in response and left the game on his desk. He noticed that she had gotten out of the dungeons and was in the graveyard and cursed under his breath. It had taken him twice the time to get that far. He wondered if Cameron had kept her promise to keep quiet. If she knew better, she would. If word got out that she knew anything, she might as well call it a day.

His thoughts fell to the wayside and turned his attention back to their case. The ducklings had gathered back in the conference room. He walked in with an attitude that clearly said not to ask him any questions about it. For the next hour, they ran more tests and argued as to what could be the patient's real problem.

___

She could do this. She was a professional woman, a highly respected doctor, and she could handle a few stares.

"It helps if you stare them right back in the eye." Sadie muttered under her breath. They were walking side by side towards the elevators. She took a chance and stared down the next person gawking at them. Sure enough, they ducked their head down and made themselves look busy. She had to fight the smile and keep a stern look on her face. Luckily there was no one in the elevator when they got in. Sadie got down to business as soon as the doors closed.

"Ok, here's what I think we should do. Let's go up to your office and stage an epic fight. You can get on to me for not doing what I'm told and I'll scream 'You're not my mother!'" Sadie had a wild grin on her face. Cuddy gawked at her.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" They both laughed, but agreed that it would be a bit much. Before the doors opened to her floor, they both agreed that they could cause much more commotion by being friendly and cordial. If everyone thought it was House and Cuddy's long lost love-child, they would give them just that.

Sadie purposely turned the wrong direction and Cuddy, loudly and gracefully, like a well trained actor, turned her the other way.

"Oh, sweetie, it's this way!" She put her hands on her shoulders and guided the teen in the right direction. Oh, she was loving this. All those intense board meetings and tedious fundraisers had paid off. The few people that were in the hall were paper-pushers, but she knew they would run to the nearest person the second she was out of sight. She could have sworn she heard the footsteps scurrying about when she closed her office door.

"I think your dad is going to be late tonight with this case, you're more than welcome to have dinner at my place." Cuddy offered. Sadie nodded in agreement and looked at all the books and pictures on the bookcases.

"How has school been?" She asked.

"Good. They make you take gym all four years though. Not a big deal, but I was going to ask dad to write a doctor's note." She took a book off the shelf and thumbed through it.

"You know, he played Lacrosse in college, I bet you would be a natural at it." Sadie looked interested in this.

"Really? I saw a picture one time, but I don't think he likes to talk about it." She sat down in a chair that was identical to the one in House's office. She had found a photo album one day. There were a bunch of Wilson's wedding pictures and all the school pictures of herself. Towards the back there were pictures of her father when he was in college. He didn't really talk about the past much.

"Yeah, that's a sore subject for him." She confirmed, "But I know it would make his day if you played it. He loves to brag about you." Sadie blushed when she said that. Cuddy pulled out some papers to sign off on and some reports to scan over for a few minutes.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sadie asked.

"Sure." Cuddy went on signing papers.

"When are you and Dad going to get over yourselves and get married already?" Cuddy dropped the paper she was holding. That was a very good question indeed. She wasn't sure how to answer it without crushing Sadie's image of her father.

"It's not that easy, kiddo." Sadie frowned, but didn't push the subject any further. Adults could be so frustrating sometimes. She flipped through the book about medieval medicine for a few more minutes.

"Ready?" Cuddy asked.

"I left my stuff in Dad's office." Cuddy nodded and they made their way the few floors down to the diagnostics department. Cuddy knew there little display had worked. There seemed to be twice the amount of people on the floor than there was half an hour before. It occurred to her that some people were actually staying late just to find out who Sadie was and what she was doing there.

House was in the adjoining conference room. He looked ready to strangle one of his employees at any moment. No doubt he was onto some bizarre disease and the rest didn't agree. Cuddy frowned but left the team to their own devices. They almost always managed to figure it out.

"I've never seen him angry before." Cuddy turned around at this. She was about to ask how that was possible, but she realized that House was a completely different person when he was with Sadie. He had begun to show that side to Cuddy as well.

"I'd be more worried if he didn't act angry with them." Sadie caught her father's attention and he barked something at his employees. They didn't look happy.

"Is the patient going to sue us for whatever you're about to do?" Cuddy asked. She didn't dare ask what they were going to do. She found lately that more often than not, House was right.

"Only a little." He joked. Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to eat dinner with Lisa. You want us to save some left-over's?" Cuddy paused for a moment, she hadn't thought about that. She smiled to herself, House would be much better off now that Sadie was living with him.

"Nah, I'll be ok. I'll try to get out of here by ten." She gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. He went back into the conference room and they heard him grumbling before the door closed. The others looked torn between being annoyed at his insistence and curious about his interaction with is daughter.

___

Two hours later and the mystery was solved. House groaned and laid his head on his desk. He was exhausted. He couldn't help but note that he wasn't as tired as he would have been if he hadn't kicked all his bad habits. He took a deep breath and piled all the paper work on the empty arm chair. It could wait until tomorrow. He'd end up making Kutner do it all anyways. He heard his office door open and knew exactly who it was without looking up.

"So, what are they all saying?" House asked. He heard Wilson sigh and settle in the arm chair.

"Everyone in the ER thinks this is all some elaborate joke you and Cuddy are playing on everyone. The majority of everyone else thinks it your's and Cuddy's long lost child. And I think this is really stupid and you should just tell them the truth."

"They trying to hit you up for some juicy gossip?" House asked. Wilson nodded.

"Good. Let 'em run around for a while. It's fun to watch." Wilson rolled his eyes but didn't argue about it any further.

"Where is she?" Wilson suddenly asked.

"Having dinner with Cuddy." Wilson squinted he eyes at him, trying to figure out if there was more to yet. He decided not to say anything. Whatever was going on, he would be hearing about it soon enough. The two said goodnight to each other and they both made their way downstairs and to their cars.

He got to Cuddy's only to find that Sadie had crashed in the guest bedroom. He made his way back downstairs.

"Guess I'll come back by in the morning." House rubbed his eyes, fighting off the sleep.

"Let me make you some coffee before you go." He followed her into the kitchen and sat down on one of the bar stools. She sat down next to him and waited for the coffee maker.

"Everything work out okay?" She asked. He nodded and she could tell he was past the capability of small talk.

"You could sleep over too if you wanted." She held her breath waiting for his reaction. He glanced over at her, gauging the seriousness of her offer.

"I snore." He said.

"So do I." She said, without missing a beat. They both they weren't talking just about sleeping over. They were negotiating a relationship.

Cuddy wondered if she should tell house what Sadie had confided in her earlier. Her gut was telling her to do it.

"Sadie said she would be okay with it." Now that really got his attention.

"When?" He was sitting up straight now. All ears.

"Earlier, when she was in my office. She told me we should just get hitched and get it over with already."

House snorted. That was something she would say. He could see why she might think that though. He could see through her eyes for a moment. The opportunity to have the perfect family unit. Mom. Dad. Sister. He couldn't blame her for mentioning it. Then he could really see it. Why not? Here he and Cuddy sat, trying to salvage something out of the mess they had made.

"So why don't we?" House asked. Cuddy wasn't sure if she was hearing things. He could see she didn't believe he was being earnest. He wasn't sure what circuit in his brain was back firing, but the more he thought it over, the more…right, it seemed to him.

"Do you really want the whole laundry list of reasons?" She asked. The coffee maker beeped, announcing that it had filled the coffee pot. She ignored it, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Please…" He said quietly. Never in her life had she heard him utter that word. Not even when he was begging for some crazy treatment for a patient. Maybe once or twice when he was short on vicodin. She could see he wanted the same thing she did. Someone to come home to, vent about work. Share a meal with.

Raise children with. That line of thought brought a few questions.

"What about Rachel?" She asked.

"What about her?" They were practically whispering now, leaning in close to each other.

"You'd need to be her father." She said almost hopefully.

"You'd have to be a mother to Sadie." This was going quicker than she expected. House really had changed since he got Sadie back. She only ever saw this side of him for that month during the summer. When his limp was not as heavy and the play list on his ipod was a little perkier than usual. In fact, for the last month he had been pleasant to be around. Outside of work, at least. He was too much of an alpha male to let his soft side show at work.

"We'd have to make it legal." She stated.

"Do we have to invite anyone?" Suddenly it wasn't a question of 'if' but 'when'. Cuddy let out a groan.

"God no. I was thinking a quick trip to the courthouse." House nodded in agreement.

"Sadie has to come though. She'll kill us if we don't take her." Cuddy chuckled. She looked at him seriously, making sure this wasn't all a joke.

"You really want to do this? Technically we're not even dating."

House sighed.

"Lisa, I've known you for 10 years. We're beyond dating. We're symbiotes at this point." She thought about it for a moment.

"Should we tell anyone? Ethically I should tell the board members about it-"

"Screw the board members," He interjected, "Who says we have to announce it to everyone? We'll tell Wilson, see how it goes after that."

She hadn't thought about Wilson. "What do you think he'll say about all this?" She asked him.

House shrugged. However he reacted, he'd get over it and eventually accept it all. Cuddy covered her face with her hands, trying to ward off all the doubts and thoughts.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this." She said, her voice muffled. He reached over and pulled her hands down. He looked at her intently and she could see he was having the same doubts she was.

"Do you want to do this?" He asked. She leaned over and kissed him. It wasn't one of those deeply romantic or passionate kisses. You would think they'd been together for years, the way it looked. He smiled in return.

"Deal?" She asked.

"Deal." He answered.

___

House woke up before she did. It was light out, but the sun still hadn't quite come up yet. He rolled out of bed, doing his best not to wake her up. He got dressed in the same clothes he had worn the day before. It occurred to him that it would be easier to move into her house. His two bedroom apartment certainly wasn't going to cut it. Sadie and Rachel would have their own rooms and there was an attic that had been converted into a home office upstairs.

He peeked in on the baby, who was still asleep. He walked a few more steps to what would soon be Sadie's room. She was wrapped up in the covers. He nudged her shoulder, gently waking her up.

"Hmmm?" She cracked open one eye. It took her a moment to fully wake up. She pulled herself up and leaned back against the headboard. Her eyebrows creased together in worry.

"You've got your serious face on." She stated. He decided to make this as straight forward as possible.

"Lisa and I are going to" he held his fingers and put air quotes around his next words, ";get over ourselves and get married already.'" He said. He watched her reaction. She looked a bit more alert now.

"Seriously?" She asked. He nodded.

She looked at him strangely, thinking it was a joke he was playing or something. She decided he was being serious and she threw her arms around his neck. He chuckled and hugged her back.

"I'm happy for you, dad." He smiled and turned his head to kiss her forehead. She was warm. Really warm. He pulled back and put the back of his hand on her forehead and then her cheeks and then her neck. That wasn't good.

"Can you stop being a doctor for, like, five minutes." Sadie protested and turned out of his reach.

"You're running a fever." He said.

"Yeah, well, new people means new germs. It's probably something I caught at school." It still bothered him, but he let it go. He heard Cuddy cooing and soothing a fussy Rachel down the hall. He wondered if he would ever break the last name habit. He and Wilson had known each other twice as long as he had known her and they still called each other by their last names.

Sadie laid down and went right back to sleep, something she definitely inherited from him. He hobbled over to the nursery and found Cuddy holding a stuffed animal above Rachel while she lay on the changing table. She dived the toy down towards the baby, making her giggle with delight.

"I used to do the same thing with Sadie." Cuddy only smiled in response. He turned and went downstairs to make something for breakfast. He hadn't told anyone, even Cuddy, but stairs weren't much of a problem anymore. He had been walking around his apartment cane-less now for about a month. He could manage small distances easily and without much pain. He wished he had kicked his vicodin habit earlier. It seemed that it had only made the pain in his leg feel worse than it actually was.

His cooking skills were not the best in the world, but he managed some toast and scrambled eggs. He emptied out the forgotten pot of coffee and started a new batch. Cuddy came down with Rachel and parked her in the highchair. House hadn't noticed it last night, but now that he looked around he saw that the house was littered with baby things. He pulled out three plates and dispersed the food.

"Do you want to move in here or find a new house?" Cuddy asked. House found he liked this new upfront, no BS thing they had going on. Maybe that's what had held them back before. He didn't think either one of them was suited for a traditional relationship that required walking on egg shells around each other and trying to guess what the other was thinking or feeling. He thought about her question a moment before answering.

"It's your house, your call. Might get a little cramped as the girls get older." Cuddy felt a little pang in her heart when he said that. It was a good pang though. She liked hearing him say "the girls". It made their dysfunctional little family seem a little more normal.

"Daddy?" They heard Sadie croak from the bottom of the steps. His heart stopped for a moment. She hadn't called him that since she was eight. He looked over and saw her hair was disheveled and her clothes were wrinkled from being slept in. What really caught his attention were her red checks and the hair that was stuck to the side of her face from sweating. In a moment he was at her side, hand on her forehead. She was burning up, much worse than earlier in the morning. He turned to Cuddy.

"Do you-" She cut him off.

"It's upstairs, I'll go grab it." She bolted upstairs to grab the thermometer out of the first aid kit. House pulled Sadie over to the couch and was glad that Cuddy's house was open, so he could keep an eye on Rachel. It seemed Cuddy was back in an instant. He stuck it in her mouth and waited a couple minutes. He much preferred these kind. He didn't trust the digital ones and wasn't sure if it was from an article or two he had read about them or because he was just getting old.

He heard Rachel fussing at being stuck in the high chair. Cuddy put her in the play pen a few feet from the couch with some toys to keep her occupied. He pulled out the thermometer and saw that she had a fever of 103. Probably the flu, he thought to himself. He covered her with the throw that was laying over the arm of the sofa. He knew to stay calm when she was sick, but a good majority of him wanted to react like the half-crazed parents he always saw in the clinic having panic attacks over a runny nose.

Cuddy had pulled out some cough syrup.

"Here, kiddo, sit up." She handed the teen a glass of juice and a little measuring cap with medicine. She swallowed it and made a face before downing the juice. She muttered a thanks and laid back down, Cuddy threw the blanket back over her.

"Should knock you and your fever out." She joked. Sadie showed a small smile, but she was already falling fast asleep.

House sighed and took the empty glass and measuring cap to the kitchen sink. They let Sadie sleep on the sofa and Rachel keep herself occupied with her toys while they finished breakfast. Cuddy thought about what House had said. They would outgrow this house pretty fast. It was cramped enough with all the baby things as well as her stuff. There wouldn't be anywhere for House's piano. She knew that wouldn't do. She liked listening to him play.

"We need to find a bigger house." She told him. He nodded, chewing on his now cold toast.

"One with a yard." He said. She knew he was thinking about Rachel. She would need a big space to play in in a couple years.

"The houses around here wouldn't do, they have postage stamps for yards." It was where a lot of the doctors lived. A smaller yard meant less to keep up with.

"I'll call some realtors Monday." She said and took her plate and laid it on top of the other dishes in the sink. "Will you watch her while I grab a shower?" House nodded. He would have to get used to having a baby again. He did okay with Sadie, but he didn't always have her 24/7. The times that he did he rather enjoyed. He went over to check on Sadie. She was still warmer than he was comfortable with. He wished she would have eaten something with the medicine but he was afraid it would all come back up later. He saw that Rachel was sitting up on her own now. She held her arms up, wanting to be held. He scooped her up and settled her in his lap. He could do this. He'd never admit it to anyone other than Cuddy and Sadie, but he liked it. He liked being a dad and having someone to take care of. He would still act like an ass at work, for his reputation's sake.

Cuddy came back to relieve him so that he could run home and grab clothes for him and Sadie. They had silently and subtly agreed to hang at her house for a while. He didn't want to move Sadie around while she was sick and he really didn't want to go back to his apartment. Why bother if they were going to move in together anyways?

He thought more about their decision during the drive to his apartment. He found he wasn't as apprehensive as he thought he would be. It didn't unsettle him, but surprised him. He thought about how he would break the news to Wilson. He could just say he moved and give the poor guy the shock of his life when he got there. He liked the idea of that. Wilson would hate him for about an hour. Maybe he would tell him about his newfound sobriety to soften the blow.

He made sure to grab about a week's worth of clothes for each of them and grabbed a few things he knew Sadie would want. He suddenly wanted to be with her really bad. Maybe it was just the thought of her sick and probably not feeling comfortable not being in her own bed. Or maybe this was what parents were always talking about, feeling that weird intuition kicking in. He reached in his pocket for his phone and realized he had left it on the night stand in Cuddy's room. He picked up the house phone and called Cuddy's cell.

"House?" She answered, she sounded stressed and his heart started beating fast.

"Everything okay?" He asked, he tapped his cane against the floor nervously.

"No, I'm taking Sadie to the hospital. Her fever isn't breaking, it's gotten worse." She sounded on the verge of tears. It took a lot to rattle a woman like herself. House kicked it into high gear. He grabbed the duffle at his feet and his keys.

"I'll meet you there." He said and snapped the phone shut.

___

He got to the hospital about ten minutes after they arrived. Sadie was laying on a gurney in an Exam room in the ER. She was shaking from head to toe and she already had an IV in her arm.

"Cameron's watching Rachel." House nodded and sat on the edge of the bed next to Sadie. She cracked open her eyes and saw who was sitting there.

"Dad?"

"Yup." He saw that her eyes were sensitive to the light and reached over to the dimmer. This seemed to ease her and she relaxed a little bit more. Her blood pressure was normal, but her temperature had risen to 105. Her heart beat was unsteady and he wasn't sure what to think. This could be a severe case of the flu or maybe something new and stronger. He started rattling of the list of symptoms in his head. Some he was sure was being caused by the fever, but he needed to know what was causing the fever itself before ruling them out.

Cuddy went out and paged Foreman to the ER. He looked confused as to why he was being called there when he got down. She led him to Sadie's room. The second Foreman got to the door, House started rattling off tests they needed to run. He saw the girl from the day before laying on the gurney. She looked like death. How had that happened so fast? She looked perfectly healthy yesterday afternoon. While he and House talked over what tests needed to be run first - blood work, CT, etc.- he saw Cuddy standing by Sadie, soothing her. The poor girl was miserable, but whatever Cuddy was saying seemed to be helping her. He picked up her chart to mark down her vitals. He noted that her blood pressure had dropped a little since she came in, and her heart rate was up. Now he knew what House was worried about. This was normal for a high fever, but it was too severe to be just the fever. He would bet money on a bacterial infection of some kind.

Sadie House. That was what the chart said. She did resemble him quite a bit, although he didn't believe all the rumors that had been running rampant around the hospital. He went to the nurse's station to see how quick they could get a CT scan.

___

Cuddy saw that Sadie was getting worse. She was shaking from the fever. Her body was definitely trying to fight something off. She tried to think of something to get her mind of the pain. She kneeled down to eye level with her, so that Foreman wouldn't hear what that were talking about.

"Will you help me look for a new house next week." Sadie looked up at that.

"W-we're moving?" Sadie had assumed they would move in with Lisa. Cuddy nodded.

"My house will be too small. We need to find a big house so we won't be on top of each other and drive each other crazy." Sadie nodded. Cuddy pushed away the drenched hair that was plastered to her face.

"And you have to help me decorate. You're father's not allowed to touch a single paint brush. I don't want to come home to a neon green kitchen." Sadie gave her a small smile. Cuddy noticed that the majority of her shaking had settled down. Foreman left the room and House came over with vials to get blood samples. Sadie saw what he was about to do and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't worry, kiddo." He was able to attach the vial to the IV, so that they wouldn't have to keep hunting for veins every time they needed to take blood. Sadie breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." He leaned down kissed her forehead.

__

House met Foreman in the lab and handed him the samples. He sat down on one of the stools and put his head in his hands. Foreman didn't say anything. He knew House would kick into jerk mode if he did. Eventually the silence ate at him and he couldn't help it.

"If it's bacterial, we can take care of it quickly." Foreman said. House looked up, staring at him hard.

"And if it's not?"

Foreman didn't have an answer to that. House took a deep breath and left to go back downstairs. It was a little unnerving to see House lose his edge. He knew the man was just scared for his daughter. Even this frightened Foreman. He hoped it was some type of flu or bacteria, but if it wasn't they were going to have a lot on their shoulders. Whatever it was had progressed quickly. A 15 year old's body was strong enough to fight it off for a while, he didn't want to imagine the effect it would have on a small child or someone with an immune disorder. It would be crippling, that much was for sure. He worked quickly, determined to find an answer.

___

House came back downstairs and saw that Sadie had fallen asleep. Cuddy was still sitting in the chair. He pulled the other chair next to hers and melted into it.

He didn't know if hours or minutes were passing. He didn't bother to look at the clock. His eyes were on the screen displaying all her vitals. The fever was still holding steady. Everything was about the same as it was half an hour earlier. He laid his head down on the arm of the chair and felt Cuddy wrap her arm around his shoulder and they stayed like that for an indefinite amount of time.

After a while he noticed that Cuddy kept checking her watch.

"Go get Rachel and taker her home. We'll be fine." Cuddy frowned.

"It's not that. You sent those tests off three hours ago." House looked up at the clock. They should have heard something by then.

He stood up quickly and bolted out of the room. Whatever results came back, they weren't good. He found the whole diagnostics team in the lab, looking worried and stressed.

He walked in and waited silently for someone to explain. Thirteen spoke up.

"It's bacterial, but we've never seen it before." House's patience was growing thin. He waved his hand, indicating he wanted a better explanation.

"It doesn't match anything. It's definitely a super bug of some sort. It doesn't die off right away outside the body." She slid a sample under a microscope for him to look at. He leaned down and focused the lens. It only took him a few seconds to figure out why they had never seen it before.

"It's manufactured," He said, "this is not a natural disease." The other's froze and time seemed to stand still. This was more than they had bargained for.

**Reviews of all kinds are welcome. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. *Squees* of delight as well. Flames will be politely ignored (but just as appreciated).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Deal - Chapter 2**

**(note: ALL of the medical/government stuff in this is completely made up off the top of my head. You've been forewarned. Enjoy!)**

"What do you mean 'manufactured?'" Thirteen asked.

House pulled out a dusty medical book from one of the shelves. They had gone back to the conference room, the dry erase board filled with Sadie's symptoms. House flipped the pages until he found what he was looking for. He set the book down and turned it so they could see.

"Look familiar?" It was a microscopic photo of a virus.

"Dengue Fever?" Foreman read, "There's no way she could have caught that!"

Taub was looking closer at the picture.

"It doesn't even look like the sample we have." He said.

House took out a pen and drew little microbial shapes around the ones that were shown in the picture and suddenly- there it was. The team looked between House and the picture, waiting for him to explain.

"Those little things are attached to the virus are protein cells. Which explains why everything we've been doing to try and help her-"

"Has been making her worse." Kutner finished. Her body was using protein to try and heal itself, but the virus had been attaching itself to the protein.

"Someone's been playing around in the science lab, trying to make the virus last longer. Only question is: where are they and how did Sadie get infected with it?" House said.

**______**

They immediately notified the CDC and would be arriving from Atlanta by plane in the next 2 hours. When House told Cuddy what they had found she kicked it into high gear. She barricaded herself in her office and began calling all the hospitals within a 50 mile radius. House became irritated with the flurry of activity around the hospital. The staff had been informed to treat this as an emergency. The specialists at the CDC were speechless when they saw the images that PPTH had sent them.

He sat in a chair next to Sadie's bed. It was quiet in her room.

She had been in and out of consciousness the last few hours. Her fever had come down to 101, but they were starting to have trouble keeping her blood pressure up. She was a fighter though, that much was true.

"Daddy?" He heard Sadie ask. He stood up and took her hand in his. Her palms were clammy and warm and it unnerved him that he couldn't do a damn thing about it until they figured out what the hell she had been infected with. None of the usual treatments were working. They had finally resorted to switching her to a cold saline bag, worried that she would start going into a seizure from the fever.

"How ya feeling, kiddo?"

"Better." She croaked, "Can I sit up?" He pressed a couple buttons on the side of the bed and helped adjust her pillows and make her comfortable. She managed to scoot herself to the far side of the gurney and patted the space next to her. He hooked his cane to the side of the bed and was careful not to jostle her. As soon as he got settled she melted into his side and sighed. He kissed the top of her head.

Cuddy came in a few minutes later. She kicked off her heels and collapsed into one of the empty chairs.

"Rough day at the office?" House asked. Sadie began to giggle, but it turned into a coughing fit halfway through. It didn't last as long as some of the others she'd had. House sent Cuddy a look that clearly said not to talk about it. He didn't want to scare the girl any more than she already was. Sadie slumped back against House, the little bit of energy she had now drained, and fell asleep within a few minutes.

"The CDC tried to tell me it was just Dengue fever." Cuddy said quietly.

"I would have said the same thing, but…" He scratched his chin, thinking about what he had seen under the microscope, "there's no way she came into contact with the real thing. Besides, this is something different."

Cuddy was quiet for a moment, wondering how to drop this bombshell on House.

"We found six more cases of it. That was just within the 50 mile radius. The CDC is taking over and sending out an alert to all the hospitals in the tri-state area."

House closed his eyes and let his head fall back against he bed. It was bad enough that his daughter was sick, but now she was infected with something that they had no cure for and no leads as to where it came from. The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. Had it been a truly infectious disease, he and Cuddy would have caught it by now. Dengue fever was spread by mosquitoes in tropical areas. He tried to think of anything short of biological warfare that could explain how seven people had been infected so fast. They would have to wait for more information to come in. He just couldn't wrap his head around how this could have happened. He was sure that he was having a harder time with because it was his own daughter that was involved, a circumstance that left him out of the investigation. He wasn't one to talk about ethics, but even he had to admit he was too close to be any good to the other doctors at the moment.

Cameron poked her head in the door, looking for Cuddy.

"They're here." She whispered. Cuddy stood up nervously and glanced at House. He looked ready to jump up.

"Stay here with her," she told him, "She does better when you're with her." He let out a frustrated sigh, but stayed on the bed. Cuddy reached and squeezed his hand, knowing he just wanted to be useful. House watched her go and Cameron stay. His eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"You're not going with her?" He asked. Cameron shook her head.

"Not my department," she answered, "they're just getting together emergency personnel and a few infectious disease specialists from the area. They're making the hospital a temporary headquarters until they can figure out where this came from."

She slid into the chair that Cuddy had been sitting in moments before. Her eyes were drawn to the screen. Sadie's fever was still persisting, and it seemed that everything they were trying was useless, which went perfectly in line with what House and his team had found. She looked back down at House and saw that he had fallen asleep with his chin on top of Sadie's head. She felt like getting mad at the universe for letting this happen to him, but knew it wouldn't do her or anyone else any good. She must have dosed off for a while because when she looked back up House was awake and flipping through the channels on the TV. He turned it off and swung his feet off the bed and stretched.

Cuddy came in looking exhausted. She didn't want to talk any more about national security or anything else that was related to proper hospital protocol. Some of the ponderings of the officials were frightening at best. She was glad to be away from it all. Technically, she didn't have to be any where near it. Some amendment had been quietly attached to the Patriot Act stating that the government could take over any hospital if any biological attack was suspected. She went straight to House, not caring if Cameron saw them or not. They clung to each other knowing there wasn't anything more they could do to help Sadie or any of the other patients that had caught the same thing. Cameron quietly excused herself, knowing they would want some quiet time alone.

"Where's Rachel?" House asked. It had just occurred to him that Cameron was the one who had been watching her.

"I had my sitter come pick her up. " She muttered into his chest. "The CDC is going through both our homes and Sadie's school."

"Good. It's what I would do."

Cuddy looked up at him. He was a mess. His hair was all mussed up and it was obvious he hadn't shaved in a couple days. She knew she couldn't talk him into going home for a couple hours so she settled for the next best thing.

"Why don't you grab a shower in the locker rooms." She suggested. "I'll stay with Sadie for a while."

Any other day House would have protested or made a crude joke about her joining him, but he didn't have the energy for it. Cuddy seemed a little put off by it. She almost wished she had the usual arrogant and annoying House. That is, until he leaned down and gave her a kiss worth remembering. Somewhere in the back of Cuddy's mind, she hoped Sadie didn't wake up right at that moment. If she saw her father kissing someone that way, she'd be scarred for life.

___

An hour later Wilson found House in the locker room clean and shaven. He must've not heard Wilson walk in. He was sitting with his head in his hands as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

"How's Sadie?" He asked.

House looked up at Wilson and shook his head. Wilson opened his locker and took off his white coat and stethoscope and placed them inside. He decided to change the subject.

"What's up with you and Cuddy?" Wilson asked. He was expecting House to say that she just couldn't keep her hands off House, or some comment about her 'fun bags.'

"We're getting married." House muttered. Wilson gave him a look that said 'yeah, right' and shook his head.

"We're shopping around for a new house this week…or, we were supposed to. Might have to put that on the back burner for a while." Now Wilson was just livid. How could House joke around during a time like this. He turned around and glared at him, ready to go off on him only to find the same man he's seen a minute before. He'd never seen House look so serious. Or saddened. He realized the man was completely serious. He wasn't sure what to say. He knew that if Sadie didn't make it, neither would House. He decided to do what he did best.

"Congratulations." Deny, deny, deny.

House gave him a grunt in response and stood up. Wilson was about to say something sappy and comforting, probably something House didn't want to hear but was interrupted by Foreman, rushing in and out of breath.

"We found a link, it's her school." His said quickly.

___

House stood in front of one of the glass walls that was now covered with papers detailing all the infected patients, all thoughts of staying uninvolved forgotten. He was surprised it had taken them so long to figure it out, but at this point, he was just grateful they had found anything.

He studied each patient carefully. Two of them were janitors at Jackson Memorial. Another two were students. And the other two were teachers. His attention was drawn to one of the teachers, Alexander Holtz. He was not only a teacher, but also the head of the science department. And he had just been transported to PPTH.

He walked out of the room without saying a word. Thirteen and Foreman gave a worried look to each other and quickly went to catch up with him.

They found House down the hall in Holtz's room. He was in the same condition as Sadie, if not worse due to his old age. He was in his early sixties and it was definitely starting to show. His body was having a hard time fighting off the fever.

"Mosquitoes." House said. Cuddy came running in, having heard from one of the nurses that House was on the war path. The old man looked confused.

"Have you come into any contact with mosquitoes?" House wanted to strangle whatever CDC specialist that had dropped the ball on this one. A four year old could have figured this out, he thought. The man continued to look confused and then his face changed, some realization dawning on him.

"The science fair…." He paused to take a breath, "some students were working on a science project last week on mosquitoes." He took another breath. "They asked for permission to order some from… a science research website… said it was the only way they could do the project." The man tried to take another breath, but instead erupted into a coughing fit. House looked over to Cuddy. She looked stricken.

"I-I'll call the school." She bolted out of the room. The school had already been alerted, but they had assumed it was being transmitted from person to person. This changed things quite a bit.

"What was their project on?" Foreman asked.

The old man shook his head.

"Not sure…something to do with mosquitoes and other insects," He paused again, "…it sounded complicated." The man's cognitive skills were not at their best. The virus was wearing him down, and fast.

A nurse came in to give the man pain relievers for the muscle aches all the patients had been experiencing. House turned and walked out of the room without another word. It was beyond him now. He knew that Cuddy and the specialists wouldn't let him anywhere near the students, not without walking away in hand cuffs.

He would give them two hours. Any longer and he'd be considering jail a viable option.

___

He went back down to Sadie's room and found her propped up and talking to Wilson. She had gotten some of her color back, but her condition was mostly unchanged from earlier. They both looked like they had been discussing something top secret. House shot Wilson a glare. Sadie saw his face and explained.

"James is helping me decide what kind of car I should get." She wiggled her eyebrows, knowing any talk of her impending driving drove him crazy. He didn't say anything though, not wanting to ruin her good mood.

"Do you know anyone who was doing something with mosquitoes for the science fair?" House cut to the chase. Sadie wondered how he knew anything about the school's activities.

"No." She said hesitantly, giving him a quizzical look. "I've only been there a few weeks, so they didn't make me do a project."

"Worth a shot." House shrugged.

Wilson and Sadie went on talking about cars. Sadie wanted something cute, but Wilson was trying to talk her into something expensive. House had a feeling he was just trying to get back at him for all the stolen lunches.

"Uggh," he groaned. "Try to keep it below twenty grand?"

Wilson's pager went off and he retreated back to his office. House was sure this had been the longest day of his life. He thought there couldn't be a day worse than those few post surgery days. He hopped back onto the gurney and resumed his position next to Sadie. She laid her head down on his chest, nestled under his arm.

"Why did you ask me about school?" She asked.

"We're about ninety-nine percent sure you caught it at school." He said. She nodded, not asking any more questions. Probably afraid of the answers, he thought. The television was still on. He noticed that it was late into the afternoon. He couldn't believe this had all happened in the span of almost a day. It felt like a week had passed since he and Cuddy made their deal. He wanted Sadie healthy and at home. He found himself a little perturbed at how easily he had accepted all these upcoming changes. He wondered if maybe they were moving too fast, but eventually decided that he could do whatever the hell he wanted to. He tried to imagine what would happen if everyone at the hospital found out about himself and Cuddy. They would never believe it. Up until that morning, he was sure that many still didn't believe that Sadie was his daughter.

His thoughts were interrupted by an angry looking Cuddy walking in. By habit, he began thinking of excuses, but snapped out of it and realized her anger wasn't directed at him.

"They ordered them from a foreign medical website." She fumed and paced the length of the small room. "The CDC combed the place and found the mosquitoes infested in the air vents. The website sends antidotes with them and didn't even check out the FAKE name the kids gave. Just like that!"

House digested the new information. He was glad that Sadie would be alright and tried to manage the anger building up inside him (albeit mostly to distract himself from Cuddy, who was downright hot when she was pissed).

"So what about the website?" He asked.

"The US government is issuing a Cease and Desist order and bringing in the owners and employees of the company in for questioning. The antidote should be here in a few hours. Oh, and the students are being put on indefinite suspension." Cuddy looked like a mess. She had been run ragged and was ready for this day to be over and done with. She was definitely taking a couple days off work after this. She wanted to continue her rant about the absurdity of it all, but had run out of steam. In the end, Sadie would be okay. That was all that mattered.

____

It was two weeks later when House finally felt that things had calmed down. Sadie and most of the other patients had stayed in the hospital for three more days. She had definitely faired better than the teacher, Mr. Holtz. He had just been released a couple days before, taking quite a bit longer to recuperate. He'd taken Sadie home to his apartment so that she could sleep in her own bed, but it wasn't long before they drifted back over to Cuddy's house a few nights a week.

He'd left Sadie at home to sleep in one more day before going back to school. He wondered around the hospital, boredom quickly settling in. For once, he had all his clinic hours in for the day. Let's just say Cuddy had adopted a more…persuasive means of getting him to the clinic. He found himself wondering up to her office. The perky and annoying assistant wasn't parked in her usual spot and was off on her lunch break. He was glad. He was sure that she had been getting word out about when he was in her office and fueling some of the more creative rumors that had been spreading around the hospital.

He went on in without knocking and saw that she was finishing up a phone call.

"MmmHmm….Yes….Ok…" He knew by her end of the conversation she was on the phone with a realtor.

He plopped himself into the armchair and Cuddy smiled in amusement at how much Sadie resembled him.

"Yes, that's perfect…Thank you so much…bye." She hung up and turned her attention to House.

"We're going to check out a few houses this afternoon." She said with a smile. They both wanted to get the house hunting over and done with. As soon as Sadie was home and feeling well again, Cuddy's home office looked more like it belonged to a real estate mogul.

"Can we make a deal to not talk about houses after we're through with this?" Cuddy laughed in response and nodded.

House was just happy she was happy. The last couple weeks, they had found their new…situation put on the backburner. He was glad to have everything back to a healthy amount of normal. Or at least their new normal. He was still a bit perturbed that he was taking all of this so well. Maybe the drug abuse had a bigger impact on him than he had previously thought. He was pretty sure it had something to do with finally getting Sadie back.

"You don't have a patient today?" Cuddy asked, realizing it was noon and House was sitting in her office.

House shook his head. "Absolutely nothing. Not even a blip on the radar. This has to be the slowest Monday on record."

The two decided to cut out early and take Sadie out to lunch with them. Cuddy gathered together some papers to take home with her while House went to his office to grab a few of his things and send the ducklings off early.

"Cuddy know you're leaving work five hours early?" House turned around and found Wilson propped against his office door. House smirked.

"It was her idea." House waited for Wilson to move out his way.

Wilson shook his head. "You're corrupting her already. Next week she'll be hitting me up for a vicodin prescription."

"And she'll develop a limp. Adds to the charm." He pushed past Wilson and made his way down to the garage. He didn't know why he kept putting it off. It had been almost six months since he'd touched anything, even alcohol. Wilson had always made it his life's mission to get House sober, maybe this was just his little way of giving him something to live for. He smiled a bit to himself. He was just unlocking his car when he heard heels clicking up behind him.

"And just what are you smirking at?" Cuddy put her hands on her hips. House glanced around, making sure they didn't have an audience.

"About how I'm going to get lucky tonight." He waggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed. He could have the worst day, but that laugh always made up for it.

"Let's take my car," Cuddy said, "If someone sees yours, they'll just think you rode home with Wilson."

______

They rode in silence for the first few minutes back to his apartment.

"At some point, Accounting is going to realize that we both have the same address."

Cuddy let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that." She chewed her lip, slightly distracting House without realizing it. "It's not that I don't want to tell anyone about us, it's just…"

"We'll be the chum and they'll be the sharks." He finished for her.

"Exactly. I just want to stretch out our last bit of peace and quiet. Lord knows we could use it." House reached over and grabbed her free hand, giving it a squeeze.

Before they knew it they were riding the elevator up to his apartment.

"How about we wait until after everything is on paper. You know half the staff will try and talk you out of it." She smirked, knowing he was right.

"Deal."

____

They decided to camp out at Cuddy's for the rest of the week. Sadie eased back into school without any problems and Thursday night Cuddy found herself sitting in the kitchen helping Sadie put the finishing touches on a research paper. Every now and then she caught murmurs coming from the baby monitor in the living room. Rachel was teething and wasn't too happy about it. House had taken to being the one to settle her down every night, while Cuddy preferred mornings. She felt a little thrill go through her at how well they worked together.

"I liked the brick house." Sadie broke Cuddy away from her thoughts.

"Me too. We just have to have the inspector come out and take a look. If all is well, we'll be moving in next month." Suddenly a wail broke through the baby monitor and the house.

"Awe, c'mon now," They heard House through the monitor. "Teeth aren't so bad."

Sadie turned to her with a sympathetic look. "Poor Rachel."

"She's already cut two teeth, it should ease up in a week or two. This looks really good. If you get anything less than an A, they are going to get two very angry phone calls." Sadie smiled and rolled her eyes.

"You two aren't going to be like those helicopter parents, are you?"

"If we ever start that, you have full permission to slap us silly." Cuddy deadpanned. She was starting to wonder if she wasn't spending too much time with House.

Sadie giggled and began saving and closing out all the programs on the laptop. Soon after Sadie went to bed, Cuddy went up to the nursery but found it empty. She found House stretched across their bed with Rachel on his chest watching TV.

'_She asleep_?' He mouthed and tilted his head down to Rachel. Cuddy tiptoed around the bed and peeked.

"Down for the count." She said. House sighed with relief.

"I think I finally found our secret weapon." He pointed to the TV.

"Larry King?" Cuddy quirked an eyebrow.

"I thought the past couple nights she just fell asleep out of exhaustion, but I'm beginning to notice a pattern."

Cuddy shrugged. "Beats driving around the neighborhood all hours of the night." She looked over and took in the sight of House in bed with a baby cuddled against his chest. She wondered if he was this attentive when Sadie was a baby.

"Oh no, you've got the look." House muttered.

"What look?"

"That look all women get when they see a grown man and a baby within five feet of each other."

Cuddy made her way to his side of the bed and scooped Rachel off his chest.

"I was thinking about what I could make you do if I had pictures." She gave him a saucy wink and went to put Rachel in her crib.

"Wilson's right. I've completely corrupted her." House muttered to himself.

_____

Monday morning reared its ugly head again and House found himself tossing a tennis ball against the wall while the ducklings tried to sniff out a patient in the clinic. His office phone rang and he gave the ball a few more tosses before bothering to answer it.

"Hello." He was expecting it to be Cuddy.

"Is this, err," There was a shuffling of papers. "Gregory House?" A man asked on the other end.

"Yes. Who's asking?" Maybe it was another lawsuit.

"Hi, Dr. House. This is Daniel Latimer, I'm the legal counsel representing Mrs. Barbra Peretti." House dug his fingers into his eyes, trying to ward away the oncoming headache.

"And what exactly are you calling about?" He asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

"I'm calling with a bit of bad news, I'm afraid. Mrs. Peretti passed away this morning." House froze. There were two sides of him completely at war in that moment. One side wanted to throw a damn party to celebrate. There was no way anyone could take Sadie away from him now. There was a bigger side that was sad for Sadie. She would be upset when he told her the news. She was about as fond of her grandmother as he was, but she was still her grandmother. The woman had raised her and was one of the last familial links to her mother.

"Um, Mary-Beth, her sister, is in the process of making funeral arrangements. However, there are some things that Mrs. Peretti left to Sadie and as her legal guardian you would need to legally accept these things on her behalf." House tried to think quickly. He would need to talk to Sadie about all this.

"Can I talk to you more about this later this afternoon? I need to talk this over with my daughter." House tapped his cane, knowing he'd have to be the one to give Sadie bad news.

"Of course, of course." He said. "In fact, I can ship a copy of the will overnight. You would still need to meet with us to sign some things and make arrangements with the inheritance."

"Thanks, that would be great." House gave him his address and hung up. He limped the few short feet out onto the balcony and took a deep breath. Cuddy found him there an hour later.

"It's barely spring, You're going to freeze out here." She said and handed him his coat. He took it wordlessly and put it on. Cuddy wasn't sure what to do. Before she would have left him alone to work out whatever was making him moody, but had no desire to do that anymore. Instead she wrapped her arms around his torso. He pulled her close and she heard him sigh.

"Sadie's grandmother died this morning." He felt Cuddy stiffen as she processed what he'd said. This would be bittersweet news for both of them. She knew Sadie had only talked to her grandmother once since House had won custody, and even then it was only to make arrangements to have her things shipped up to New Jersey. Still, it was her grandmother.

"I'm going to head home early and tell her when she gets back from school. The lawyer that called said there were some things she inherited and I need to find out if she wants to go to the funeral."

Cuddy nodded and pulled away to look up at him. "Let me know if you need help with anything." He smiled and leaned down and gave her a loud smooch, making her giggle. It still amazed him that one little sound could make his heart so much lighter. He was about to suggest they christen one of the supply closet when a flash of light blue scrubs scurried away from one of the windows.

"Crap." He muttered. Cuddy's eyebrows were knit together in confusion. He tilted his head towards the windows. "Our secrets out now."

Cuddy took a deep breath and mentally cursed herself for forgetting something so mundane as glass.

"Give it a month. Another month and they'll find something else to gossip over." Cuddy said while rubbing her temples. She knew this for a fact. While there was still some excitement over the news that Gregory House had a daughter, in three weeks it had managed to become old news.

"I'm going to hole up in my office for the rest of the afternoon, try to get some paperwork done. When you say home, which one do you mean?" She asked.

House sighed and thought about it for a moment. "Probably yours. Half of Sadie's stuff is over there already. I'll ask her, but I'm pretty sure her answer will be the same."

"The inspector is supposed to call this afternoon." Cuddy told him. "If all is clear, we'll sign the papers Friday and we can have everything in one place." She looked happy, House noted. Even the impending doom that was the PPTH rumor mill couldn't kill this momentary buzz.

"If he calls with good news, I'll ask Sadie to help us start packing" House said, "Maybe that will help her keep her mind off things.

Cuddy nodded and kissed him quickly before going back upstairs to her office. Of course, every nurse, doctor, or maintenance person she saw on her way was whispering furiously on her way there. She wondered if she could manage to make it to the end of the week without getting a call from a board member. And if they weren't happy about what they heard, she thought as the elevator doors closed, they could just go to hell. This was one thing she was not budging on.

___

Later that night, House had managed to get a much less fussy Rachel asleep just after eight and the three of them vegged out on the couch. Sadie had her head in Cuddy's lap and her legs curled just short of House. She was quiet when he told her. It had taken a while to get her to talk to him. She was upset much in the same way he was. She was happy that they would never ever have to worry about being ripped apart, but the woman was still her grandmother. House couldn't help but compare the relationship Sadie had with her grandmother to the one he had with his father. At least he would be the one to stick up for her. While his mother never once….he stopped himself from going down that train of thought. He made sure that his parents didn't have anything to do with Sadie. No way was he exposing her to any more dysfunctional family members.

"Its always semen! Do these criminals have nothing better to do?" Cuddy muttered at the TV while running her fingers through Sadie's hair. He watched Sadie crinkle her nose and laugh at the same time. House relaxed a little at the sound.

It was close to eleven when they all called it a night and went to bed. House pulled Cuddy's back to his chest and buried his face her hair.

"I think this was one of the longest days of my entire life." House whispered. She could feel the reverberation of his voice on her back.

Cuddy snorted in response. "Just wait until tomorrow. Everyone is going to be driving us crazy tomorrow at work."

They were quiet for a few minutes. Just when Cuddy thought he had fallen asleep, House said "We should stage some epic fight in the middle of the clinic. Make 'em think I left you for the nanny."

Cuddy turned around in his arms and faced him. "You and Sadie are more alike than you'll ever know."

"Oh, trust me. I know." House said. "She told me yesterday she wants a motorcycle." He felt the bed shake a bit as Cuddy tried her best not to let out a bark of laughter.

"Laugh now, but when Rachel starts walking I'm getting her a matching mini-bike."

Cuddy shot him a glare and tried to put on her best lady-boss face.

"Speak one more word about motorcycles for either of them and you can forget any possible chance of future procreation." House didn't respond, instead reaching up and scratching the stubble on his chin. Cuddy worried for a moment that she'd said the wrong thing when he finally broke the silence.

"Do you want more kids?" He asked. That derailed her for a moment. Suddenly they were switching to negotiation mode.

"It…" She sighed, "It was so difficult to just have one, I haven't even thought about more. Do you?" Cuddy asked. House rolled over on his back while she propped herself up on his chest. He had never considered it because of his drug issues and his leg. Forget kids, he couldn't even be in a relationship. Things had changed for the better in the past few months.

"I never planned on it, but I never ruled it out." Cuddy thought about it for a moment. The idea of more kids appealed to her, but it would be insane to even try to pursue it now.

"How about we table this discussion until Rachel is out of diapers." Cuddy proposed.

"Deal." House agreed.

____

House made sure to leave a few minutes early the next morning so he could stop by the apartment. Of course, he would still be fashionably late to work, but not so much that Cuddy would revoke certain amenities. He opened the door and found a thin cardboard envelope had been slid under the door. It was the will and legal documents that the lawyer had promised to send over. He checked to make sure the apartment was still in one piece before he tucked the envelope under his arm and dropped it in the passenger seat in his car, where it was forgotten for the rest of the day. He had to shoot a few glares on his way to the diagnostics department. Nurses and doctors would suddenly look busy working. As soon as he got to his office he shut the blinds and focused on their new patient. He wasn't long before everyone left to run the lab work that Wilson appeared on his sofa.

"I had an interesting conversation with Lou today."

House snorted, "Did he tell you all the juicy gossip about me and Cuddy?" He didn't look up from his game. Sadie had managed to replace all his high scores and he was valiantly trying to take back his status as king zombie killer.

"Well, that too. Apparently there's a new rumor going around that you and her were caught having sex on the balcony. He also said you haven't picked up any prescriptions in months."

House could feel Wilson staring a hole right through his skull. He paused the game and looked up, trying to figure out how he was going to explain why he went sober and more importantly, why he didn't tell Wilson. In the beginning, he knew his friend would pester him about it and House was afraid he would jinx it. The when his sobriety became a bit more permanent, he knew that Wilson would treat him differently, expect him to change. Well, that was the last thing that was going to happen.

"You buying them off somebody now?" Wilson asked. His jaw was tight as he tried to control his anger. House tossed the game on the desk haphazardly.

"No, because I'm not taking anything."

"Bullshit." Wilson muttered without missing a beat. House pushed his chair back and opened the bottom left drawer of his desk where he lept all the prescriptions Wilson had been writing him. He almost felt like one of those alcoholics who kept a bottle hidden away just to prove that they didn't need to drink, bit today he was glad that he kept them. He pulled the small stack out, not bothering to straighten them out and limped over to Wilson and tossed the papers in his lap.

"Haven't touched anything in over five months." House was too angry to look him in the eye. Didn't want to. He knew that he'd put Wilson through a lot of shit over the years, but that doesn't mean it was all House's fault. Every time, Jimmy had stuck his nose where it didn't belong. Tried to force his hand, probably prolonging any chance of he had of kicking the vicodin. Right at that moment, House truly didn't give a damn what Wilson thought. He turned around and walked out of the office, making his way to the roof. The afternoons were getting warmer and he needed to cool his head before anyone else pissed him off that day. He took the elevator to the top floor and then the short set of stairs to the roof entrance and found someone had left the door stopper between the door and the frame. He peeked his head out, knowing someone was probably already up there.

The first thing he saw were black heels, and a crimson red pencil skirt and a matching jacket. He stepped quietly up beside her.

"Wilson confronted me today. Thinks I'm lying about being clean." House propped his elbows on the top of the short wall while taking in the skyline.

"Every single board member called me today before noon insisting that I explain myself." Cuddy said quietly. House cringed inwardly, knowing it was going to take a lot of effort on Cuddy's part to get them off her back and not a whole lot for him to do.

"You win." House said.

He turned and slid himself down against the wall, sitting on the roof. He tugged on her hand, silently asking her to sit with him. She delicately placed a hand behind her legs to keep her skirt from riding up and leaned against him when she sat down. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips against her temple right beside her ear, unknowingly sending a shiver through her body.

"When we get too old to work, I don't want to be anywhere near hospitals. Or New Jersey." He said. Cuddy turned her head slightly to look at him, making sure he wasn't joking.

"Deal." She whispered.

____

**Sorry for the long delay. I originally wrote this a couple days back in March, when the nasty winter weather kept me indoors and out of work. Honestly, I forgot about it until I found the second chapter half finished on my computer. I'll try to keep this up.**

**Again, Reviews of all kinds are welcome. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. *Squees* of delight as well. Flames will be politely ignored (but just as appreciated).**

**:D**


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